Marina Orlova of Hot for Words: Hello my dear students!
Everyone has dollars on their minds these days, which made me wonder, where does the word come from?
Everyone has dollars on their minds these days, which made me wonder, where does the word come from?
Hot for Words investigates "dollar."
It all started with a silver mine in a small town called Joachimsthal in the 1500s. They made silver coins called Joachimsthalers - what a mouthful!
Soon locals shortened the term to "thalers" [pronounced taler, with a long "a"], which the Dutch morphed into "dalers." From there it's just a short leap over to "dollars," which the English used for all foreign coins. Then when America gained independence, they chose the word "dollar" for their money.
Now how's that for "coining a term"?
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